On My #AeroLetGo Moment

What’s the best part about blogging? Most people would assume that it’s the free stuff, right? The press drops and blogger packs that show up at your office. It’s a topic that’s been on my mind recently, this influencer campaign thing. I didn’t get into blogging with the intention of getting as many freebies as I could and I didn’t set out to be an influencer. No. I got into blogging (way back in 2006) purely to express myself.

I got into blogging to write. I’m not one of those bloggers that bothers with stats and I’m not interested in things like bounce rates or unique visitors. I don’t have a contact form on my blog. Why? Because I’m tired of the free shit. Unless it’s cool shit. The cool shit will find you, even if you don’t have a contact form or stats plugin on your blog.

Why am I tired of the free shit? Because it’s not free. It’s never free. There is the expectation that if you get sent free shit, you will reciprocate with a blog post (at the very least an Instagram/tweet/status update about the free shit. The thing is, sometimes the free shit really is shit. Or the campaign isn’t well thought out, it’s not really personalised, and it’s definitely not relevant to me or my readers and they’ve only selected me based purely on the fact that I have a high number of Twitter followers. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Lately, however, I have had the fortune of being involved in a few cool social campaigns and the recipient of some really cool shit. This is one such influencer campaign and this is one worth writing about. This is the #AeroLetGo campaign.

What was the point of the box? To introduce me to the new Aero Bubble chocolate bars. Apparently it’s lighter, more delicious and easier to snap into pieces.

What was inside the box? Two sets of gardening tools. One for me, one for Toffee. A voucher to the Garden Shop and a few interesting booklets with gardening tips. I think I might actually have gasped when I noticed the voucher. The rest of the box was weighted down with a massive stack of Aero Bubble chocolate slabs and instant hot chocolate cups. Flavours? Mint, Duet (white and milk chocolate), Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate.

Now, I have to tell you right here that I don’t even like Aero chocolate at all. It’s not something I would ever have bought for myself, because I prefer my chocolate to be more along the lines of a Snickers bar. Nutty and gooey, not soft and melt-in-your-mouth bubbly chocolate. (Confession: we have eaten most of the chocolate already. It’s pretty good.)

This campaign (and its blogger drop) is the only reason I am even writing about this chocolate right now. If they’d sent me just the box, balloons and chocolate, I wouldn’t have done anything more than fire off an Instagram and cross-post it to Twitter. But no.

Someone put a lot of time, thought and effort into this hamper. Someone managed to interest me in their product, by appealing to another of my interests. Gardening is my stress relief. It’s how I let go. When my hands are dirty and I’m digging in the soil, I’m not thinking about anything, or worrying about anything.

What do I like about this campaign?

It’s personalised. And I don’t mean that someone hand wrote my name on the envelope that holds the brand message. It’s more than a box of chocolates. A Garden Shop voucher was the perfect excuse for me to spend money feeding my addiction buying succulents. Money that wasn’t my own.

The message is clear. Aero Bubble chocolate is pleasurable. Indulging in Aero Bubble chocolate is a moment of happiness and joy, and it’s the small moments that make a difference.

The call to action is simple. To inspire these bubbles of light-hearted fun, Aero entices you to have your own #AeroLetGo moments, with a series of challenges, life hacks and dares posted on the Facebook and Twitter pages. Taking on the challenges puts you in line to win great prizes. What kind of prizes? I’ve seen shopping trips to NYC, lots of vouchers and chocolate being given away.

My hamper also had its own little secret challenge to *let go*. I had to pop the balloons to discover a tiny rolled up piece of paper that instructed me to get creative and strike a pose in the garden with the kids.

That will have to wait until this weekend, but in the mean time, here’s what I bought with my Garden Shop voucher. (I had a glorious kid-free hour on my own last Sunday to wander around the nursery and pick out a whole bunch of succulents that I didn’t already have. That in itself was a great #AeroLetGo moment.)

So thank you, Aero South Africa. For thinking of me. Good job on turning my love of succulents into a love (that my whole family shares) for your chocolate. I can’t wait to spend some more time in the garden, planting out my spoils.